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lost new 1st time mom!

Greets all,
I am a new mom for the first time, and it seems harder birthing a child of my own, saying that I have raised every other baby that I came in contact with but never had to breastfeed. Well my problem is that I gave birth 16 days ago and within those 16 days I nursed for 5 or 6 days afterwards (not as much as I should have). After the first week my son started to become consitpated due to the fact I think I was nursing and formula feeding him. My plan was to only formula feed along with nursing the first few weeks. due to his consitpation I lacked up when it came to nursing him. Wrong thing to do, as I'm now learning the hard way. I have little milk supply, when I pump its only a few drops and not even close enough to fill up my hefty baby boy.I'm so lost and do not know what steps to take to increase such a low low supply. Please advise I'm in desperate need, once I get my supply back I'm going all the way with breastfeeding. thanks in advance.

Re: lost new 1st time mom!

Greetings kingsmom!
You have come to the right place for information and support.
Relactation is the process of re-establishing a milk supply.
Infant suck training is the process of teaching your infant to suckle.
At 16 days post-partum your chances of success are great!!!
You will find wonderful easy to follow advice on this website...look at the grey tool bar and click on resources,
then scroll down to the Answer pages and look for Relactation

Re: lost new 1st time mom!

hi mama. i am going to post some links that are helpful. basically you want to encourage the baby to nurse and wean off what you are supplementing with. you can do it mama!! it may take some time but your baby is only two weeks old, i am happy to hear you want to get the baby back to the breast. good job!

try to also just let go of housework and trying to do anything but nurse. set yourself up in a cozy spot with books, snacks etc and just plan on being there all day, for awhile

enjoy the time with your lo. mine both nursed constantly so i just kept them at the breast and they slept/nursed. just keep an eye on the diapers, i used to keep a little notebook at the diaper changing table to keep track.

Re: lost new 1st time mom!

at the top of the llli.org website there's a gray tab called "resources" between "forums" and "marketplace". good luck mama! the links from PP are great too. check them out and start trying stuff, report back, ask more questions!

Re: lost new 1st time mom!

mtmama gave you some excellent links. I would start with "back to the breast" and "weaning from supplements" then worry about the rest.

You are definitely going to want to set up a comfy spot and just nurse nurse nurse all day and night for awhile.

Formula is constipating while breast milk has laxative properties, so making the switch to breast milk is great for a baby who is prone to constipation! Of course there are a huge number of other health benefits too. It's hard work, but you can do it!